More New Yorkers Getting Around on Foot

Keeping pace with spiking bike and subway ridership statistics, the Department of Transportation recently found that the number of people walking on the city’s sidewalks has also reached a record high. Of course, they’ve only been tracking sidewalk congestion since 2007…

The Postreports that the DOT created the “pedestrian volume index” four years ago, setting that year’s average sidewalk traffic as the 100 baseline index. By that measure, the crowds walking the city’s sidewalks this year make for an index of 113.2.

Though that figure was calculated by surveying 50 locations around the five boroughs between 4pm and 7pm between May and September, including places like Union Square, the boardwalk outside the Staten Island Ferry terminal, and even Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. But if you’re looking to avoid pedestrian traffic jams, there’s this bit of helpful information:

The single most crowded block [DOT surveyors] encountered in four years of collecting data was 34th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue on April 30, 2008. A total of 32,736 pedestrians trooped along that busy shopping thoroughfare during the three hours the counters were clicking.

So, as if you needed reminding, the block between Macy’s and Penn Station is hellish, though one wonders whether it was better or worse at the time of the original Penn Station.